Here’s one way to be recognized as ‘award-winning’ journalists – collude with intelligence officials to get their best leaks and then hire them later. Now, the question is…are Brennan and Clapper leaking top intel to MSNBC and CNN as paid analysts?
By Sara A. Carter
CNN walked away with a prestigious journalism award at Saturday night’s White House Correspondent’s Association dinner for their role in making public a briefing by intelligence officials to then President-elect Donald Trump. CNN reported the briefing “included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.” But the information briefed to the President was also leaked to the media by one of the same senior Obama administration officials who orchestrated the briefing and was hired by CNN months later as a paid analyst.
Some are questioning now if this was ethical –a pay for play of sorts –as it raises serious questions about the role and responsibility that U.S. intelligence officials have when taking on paid positions as analysts for news organizations, while still retaining their high-level security clearances. It also raises similar questions about news organizations and their role of remaining objective and not paying their sources.
Reporters Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez and Carl Bernstein won the Merriman Smith Award for their broadcast work and reporting on the dossier. But as first reported here it was former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who was suspected by Congress of leaking the information to CNN, after he asked now fired FBI Director James Comey to give Trump the private briefing on Jan. 6, 2017.
“If it would have been anyone else, he’d be prosecuted. Instead, they get a high paid position..”
By August 2017, Clapper was hired by CNN as an analyst but the network never disclosed that Clapper was a major source behind the leak of an unproven and salacious dossier when he joined the network. News agencies and reporters never disclose their sources, it would be unethical, but isn’t it also unethical to pay sources for information or give sources jobs as analysts for your news outlet after they’ve been illegally leaking classified information?
The dossier, which was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele through cut-out Fusion GPS, was also being paid by the Hillary Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee, as first reported by The Washington Post. And Clapper, Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan have been very vocal and partisan against the Trump administration, despite the fact that they are former senior intelligence officials of the United States.
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The United States has generally observed a tradition of non-partisanship among its intelligence officials who serve the people rather than a regime. In countries like Pakistan, Russia and in other places throughout the world highly partisan intelligence apparatus’ have attempted to destroy, overthrow or control their governments through subversion or coup d’etats.
Brennan, who is now a paid analyst for MSNBC, candidly expresses his anti-Trump opinions in public venues and continues to drop insults along with vague and ominous premonitions about the President, while refusing to show any evidence that the Russian’s possess blackmail material or that the Trump campaign was “colluding” with the Russians to win the presidency.
The House Intelligence Committee has found no evidence of collusion after more than 15 months of investigation…
Continue this story at saraacarter.com…
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